can wade Barrett be saved?
 

https://youtu.be/RjKFgZcpb6Y

The clip hit home because that moment when cena beat nexus after the concrete ddt, I thought did harm to the product, creative and especially wade's career. Wade has the look and the mic skill to be a top guy but has been given jack shit to do, is there hope for him in your opinions?

I got a good vibe from the trio of wade ,sheamus and russev al being foreign and can play legit tough characters beyond cartoonish bullshit. They cant drop the king gimmick fast enough though

I wonder if Wade Barrets fights for himself in creative meetings, or just says "ok" when he is told he is jobbing to sin Cara, etc.

Ironically I hit on that clip after listening to austin talk with vince russo about not wanting to work with double j and protecting himself, and I just wonder does wade feel like he can't speak up to cena? Or to creative. Does he feel like being passive will pay off?

He might have a few more United States or Intercontinental title reigns, but he's a midcarder, so he'll probably flounder for the rest of his WWE career. Sucks coz Barrett's the goods, but there we go.

That the way I feel most the roster is and it the difference in today product and the Attitude Era. A lot of the talent just go along doing what their told, content with their spot.

It is doubtful he'll be anywhere better than where he is currently positioned as a character.

To be fair this thread could apply to most of the guys on the roster.

I was watching some Ryback squashes earlier from when he debuted. Man, that guy could have been a star. Now he's nothing.

Can Ryback be saved?

I like Barrett but they don't seem interested in ever pushing him fully.

Can Dolph/Rusev/Owens/Sheamus/Anyone in the midcard be saved?
Maybe they act this way because there is no other real option for them.

Owens is going to be huge.

So was Barrett.

As long as he shows up to all the fights he is scheduled to have, he should be okay.

If they follow through with this United Nations vibing team with Sheamus and Rusev, Barrett could be relevant again. They've toned down the King gimmick, which is good, too.

An attempt to get Cesaro on side which leads to feud with the Swiss Superman could be interesting.

I honestly feel all three of Barrett, Rusev and yes even Sheamus are beyond saving now. Take each one in turn:

- Barrett: He was unfortunate with injuries but with changing his gimmick so many times, I really have no idea what direction he's going in and I don't think WWE know either. The length of time he has now been in WWE I find it disappointing he has not been in the WWE/WHC picture nor has he had a reign. I can't see how he can be put into it given a pecking order appears to have developed: Lesnar again at some point, Cena will break Flair's record, Ambrose, Rollins if he can get his shit together, potentially Bray Wyatt, heck in a moment of lunacy should he return from injury they may even give Sting another shot or a run. The issue is with TNA pretty much nearing the end (it will be gone by the end of 2016 I think) where else would he go? ROH? The new GFW? Japan?

-Rusev. Allowing Rusev to lose to Cena at WM was the biggest mistake they could have made. Up to that point the character was interesting, parading as a Russian, rubbing it into American noses, unbeaten. He imo should have gone on a lengthy run potentially culminating in a WWE title reign. It might have reeked of Goldberg streak-esque but Goldberg was almost 20 years ago now. Since then the character and storylines are a joke. A perennial midcarder maybe the odd title shot if it's elimination chamber or something but nothing more.

-Sheamus. I hate the heel gimmick and stupid look and new music etc. The old music was so cool. Even with the briefcase I don't see him winning the title and if he does it wouldn't be for very long. I just sense he doesn't seem to be connecting with the fans this time around.

Barrett is too injury prone at this point. The chance to make Barrett a star came and with the nexus angle. They had a chance to legitimately elevate him and give him the belt and have it be believable. He was over. His promos were great. Then the nexus fell to Cena, Barrett was replaced as its leader, went to Smackdown to start the Corre, and entered mid card purgatory.

He's also gotten the old stop start push too. First, the street tough bare knuckle fighter that suddenly became chicken shit for no reason, then the Bad News gimmick, which got pretty over. Some of that is injuries but the other is WWE not knowing how to keep midcard talent strong nor relevant. Think Barrett's time has come and gone. He's forever a midcard as far as I'm concerned. Shame.

This. Really doubt he's ever going to get to the next level baring a sudden Kofi-like career resurgence but still has some value as a midcarder. Probably still valuable as a quick US/IC transitional champion but not someone who gets a division built or revolved around himself anymore.

Between Creative doing their best to squash his momentum and getting hurt at the worst times possible, he doesn't have enough star power needed to reach the upper midcard or main event level of stardom.

I don't think anyone is beyond saving... but it is pretty ridiculous how far some of these guys have fallen simply because they aren't ever given anything to do. But say with Barrett. Put him in a match with Brock Lesnar at an MSG type WWE Network event like Kofi Kingston got. No one gave Kofi a chance and it ended up being a squash match. Let Barrett go out and surprise people and put up a hell of a fight against Lesnar and get noticed. Maybe even win. And then don't just let go of that. Let him go on another ppv and either go toe to toe with him again or BEAT someone like Cena or Taker or Rollins (if he's not champ.) Even beating Reigns, Orton, Ambrose, Owens, or Cesaro since you always look great against one of them. The point is you have to follow it up, long term.

I would love to see Barrett get pissed and shed the gimmick shit and just be him and go on a tear. A program with lesnar would be great

Anybody can be saved..... but it would be very difficult and "too much effort" to do at this point. They would "save time" by just pushing someone new.

This is why I thought it was a huge mistake giving Barrett the King of the Ring.... because he is too late to save..... Neville still had potential at that point.

Has Barrett done anything of note since becoming King of the Ring?

Totally don't understand why so many people love that concept. I've never been a fan of the KotR. The only time I enjoyed anything to do with it was when Booker T won it, because he actually played up being a king.

Should have just kept his Bad News gimmick or at least combine it with the crown instead of just dumping what was getting him over with fans.

Keep the rising podium aspect but instead as a rising throne or a podium decorated with royal regalia for him to proclaim some bad news to his subjects.

Average in the ring, average on promos. Has gotten hurt at bad times during pushes.

Still could get to the top if he improves in the areas he needs to work on.

Can he ever be a main eventer after how far he's fallen? No.

Can he have a long and fairly prosperous mid-card run with multiple mid-card title reigns and some memorable moments? Yes... If WWE doesn't fuck it all up.

ALL HAIL KING JUGHEA---ERR, BARRETT! :shifty:

Hope they run with this European Alliance they have going. Barrett was great as the leader of Nexus and could be used to get him back to that level. If they could get Neville and Cesaro yo join that would be a pretty good stable with Lana managing. Could have them dissolve over the MITB brief case, with Sheamus thinking He's the leader because he holds it. Have Barrett beat him for it and go win the title if they wanted.

The fact that Sheamus, Wade Barrett & Drew McIntyre were not members of an All-European stable that dominated WWE for years with numerous singles and tag team championship reigns, taking advantage of a very large United Kingdom market (which has essentially kept TNA afloat for years) is a travesty..... Could have been a European Evolution, could have even floated Mason Ryan in as a muscle and Paige in as their Diva.....

Closest that ever came to fruition was that sweet-ass "United Kingdom" storyline in WWE '12. They had those 3, and I think William Regal, too. Loved the part where they devise a scheme and get every championship in the company.

On a Barrett-related note, the guy seems so likable in real life. Every clip I've seen of him out-of-character, he's always so happy and smiley and seems to have a laugh. :y:

lol he was a prick on that pranked show

Wide Barret can definitely be recovered if he gets completely repackaged and take off TV for a while and then comes in with a new look and name. He has the talent to get it done but WWE just ruined him.


Honestly kind of reminds me of how CHW treated Devastator when he was last on air.

To summarize - everyone should have beat Cena and been the champ....at the same time!

No homo cynick, but I adore you

No but the way Cena beat themand how it was dealt with after words killed any momentum that they had. Every one of these men had something and due to the lack of ability of management to try anything different they are just there .

I kind of think part of the problem is that they stopped using enhancement talent to keep their talent "strong" and instead just use whomever doesn't have a story going at the moment in their place which in the long run cheapens them in the eyes of management and the fans.

The main brand no longer knows how to make stars or use talent effectively

Look I dont know how many of you guys are Euros, so maybe some of these guys hold a special place in your heart, but I dare anyone to watch all of these guys objectively.

None of them are better than the guys they are currently pushing hard (Rollins and Reigns mainly). Barrett has a cool schtick with the bad news thing. I really like him. But his game has holes. Outside of Britain, and the shows post Mania (which have a higher than normal % of Euros), he rarely holds a crowd for an entire match.

Rusev reached the top. This is another one of those examples where people complain about the US title not being important, and then dont realize that starting with Cena-Rusev its been a headlining title. If Cena beat Rusev for the WWE title instead of the US title at Mania, would that make you feel like Rusev reached the heights he should have hit? It happens in wrestling all the time. You go up to the top, you come down a bit, you move back up, and on and on. Foley is the perfect example of this. He worked Taker is semi main event programs for his first 6 months, then he went down the card, he came back up eventually, and went back down. Plus Rusev didnt help things by getting hurt (not that he did that intentionally just saying it didnt help) and now letting his dummy girlfriend screw up his career.

Sheamus. I dont know, I feel like he's a good talent. Has a lot going for him, seems to understand what it takes to be a star. They clearly have plans for him since they put MITB on him. We'll have to wait how to see how that plays out. I thought he was in need of a change as a babyface, but he's one of those guys like Orton who can go back and forth as needed.

Is Brock Lesnar a star?

Are Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins stars?

Anyone can be saved.

It's a matter of will they be saved. In Barrett's case I'm leaning no.

Lesnar was a star with or without the WWe
Reigns was booed out of the Rumble and the main reason why Lesnar is a face at the moment. Seth Rollins, although awesome as all hell, is a paper champion that rarely wins and without the belt will be kicked down to midcard

There is something about them elevating guys to the title then not keeping them relevant that hurts the product. Swagger, khali, henry, sheamus, ziggler are all guys who held world titles who were zeros soon after. Being selective about your top slot is vital

Even then, if you're gonna put a guy on top, go all the way with it. This jobbing once you're the champ malarkey helps no one.

This is by and large the problem. With the exception of wanting to position Reigns as the new Cena, and "arguably" having Seth as champ (they could be doing better with him to solidify him as credible instead of this "chickenshit puppet" vibe he's putting out now), they don't keep pushing guys. They may end up with a decent program or a good jumping off point for someone's career, but when it ends, they let that person fuck right off the face of the earth, and any spark cools down for essentially no reason.

Its also one of the major reasons why NXT is great. Tossing out the training aspect of the green talent and merely focusing on the character devolpment, they are essentially doing it right. Guys can't be on TV every week, but most of the ones that aren't don't dissappear from the world for 3 months or so after a feud. Anyone not directly in title contention is :gasp: FEUDING WITH SOMEONE ELSE!

It doesn't have to be steep constant upward movement, but there should be constant movement from any traction, period.

Nobody will ever become any kind of draw if they stay irrelevant, and nobody will ever maintain relevance if they don't keep exposure/reason for fans to give a shit. Nobody will get behind someone who loses ALL the time, especially if they lose all the time and there is no rhyme or reason for it. At least when they finally got on board with giving DB the WrestleMania spot, his constant losing was the direct result of an angle where he was constantly blatantly screwed in bouts he clearly had won, put in handicap matches, and jumped. Wade Barrett keeps losing because... well, I guess because he's a jobber now.

Nearly anyone can be saved (I refuse to apply this to Eva Marie, because they are still dead set on letting the most dangerous orange face since Evil Otto into rings on TV until she inevitably Droz-es someone instead of letting her train without pressure and overexposure and HOPE she gets good enough to con fans into liking her later on), and Wade is no exception.

And I really hope they are not still on this "go out there and take it" nonsense with the majority of the talent... because that makes little to no sense when you have no leverage in rocking the boat. If they call your bluff and say "you'll do this and like it", it isnt like you can say "fuck you" and go to WCW. It also is no way of telling if you're being "tested" or not. If guys can get shit on and/or shitcanned for things like being on the receiving end of racisim, or being the boyfriend that was cheated on, who would want to say no to going down to the ring in a lime green tutu and a marching band hat because creative somehow thinks that will work?

Actually, yeah...he IS.

http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/yF9JhjfrWlI/mqdefault.jpg

Lesnar was never at the level he is now in terms of wrestling. MMA Brock drew more PPVs, but in terms of wrestling, I think he's on a level he's never been to.


Rollins and Reigns are still stars though. Rollins will be headlining fir 10 years plus, unless he does sowing stupid.

Well hopefully all of his crops grow nicely.

Different time. They had the joke second world title. Look at the champs since they put the titles back together. No jokes, all studs. The title means something to me now. More than at any point since HHH busted out the big gold belt in 2002.

Fully agree its been cleaned up. I hated having two titles, it totally shit all over the meaning of being champion and insulted fans. With rollins you get the feeling he won't be left in ziggles purgatory after he loses the title. Sheamus and henry and dolph still trying to recover from that cycle though i was sayibg

Yeah and some people may not agree, but I never saw those guys are true world champions. To me there was always one of the champs that was clearly the real world champion (usually the guy with the WWE title) and the other guy was a secondary champion.

Ì agree it's way way better with only one champ and I do believe Rollins will not be hurt when he finally does drop the championship.

I would argue that the WWE title was a secondary title to the WHC from Eddies title win on February 15, 2004 to Summer 2005.

Definitely. 20 was headlined by the big gold belt title fight. Even 21 it was still the focal point. I would it flipped when John went to RAW.

For the most part after that the gold belt was the secondary prize, especially when it was exclusive to SD.

Two titles was shit, and even worse with that spinner belt. Total desecration

Two titles wasn't shit in and of itself. It was clumsily handled. If they were dead set on the brand split, having a two champion system was amazing. But they constantly put the focus more on one than the other. Once one started meaning more, they swapped it to RAW. When guys started getting over, they got shipped to RAW and/or appearing on both shows. WWE has had a problem with focused balance for awhile. They will focus on ONE feud, ONE singles championship (most likely WHC, but not neccessarily) and ONE auxiliary division, such as Divas, Tag, or (Cruiserweight or Hardcore when they were a thing.) That's a possible three areas of focus, and everything else is left to rot. Sometimes, that feud they focus on is part of one of the second two areas, so it is only TWO points of focus.

The only real problem was trying to incorporate ECW into the mix. They already were proving they weren't really willing to commit to the idea of having two separate yet equal Heavyweight Champions on separate shows that could be billed as attractions so adding a third and then just treating that one like the bastard stepchild title made things worse.

Hell, there are times they don't even seem to commit to a single WHC system.

Wade Barrett is more likely to be saved than Damien Sandow.

This thread needs more saving:

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Cena's spinner belt was bad enough, but then guys like Edge got their own custom belts. Nothing worse than an imitation of an already piss-poor belt design.

I want to see this tandem continue with Sheamus, with both men being positioned as threats that are upping their game. Give them Rusev, Owens & Stardust as partners at Survivor Series and have them go over The Rock, Reigns, Ambrose, Ziggler & Cesaro. Barrett and Sheamus can then face Reigns & Ambrose in a Chairs Match at TLC. Reigns and Ambrose can win that match, but Barrett and Sheamus work together at the Rumble and rack up quite a few eliminations. At some point, two babyfaces (Reigns & Cena?) work together and get them out.

Ambrose beats Sheamus for the Money in the Bank briefcase at Fastlane. Maybe Reigns beats Barrett? Both guys find their way into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and maybe the match even comes down to the two guys fighting each other?